Little Switzerland at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park was the latest business featured on Retail Therapy and In Our Kitchen on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Photo: VINO

Inside Little Switzerland at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park. Photo: Facebook

Watches available at Little Switzerland at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park. Photo: Facebook

Deputy CEO of Tortola Pier Park Limited (TPPL) Zoe J. Walcott, left, and JTV reporter Cathy O. Richards, right, got an exclusive tour of Little Switzerland, a luxury watch and jewelry store that has been a household name for over sixty years in the Virgin Islands. Centre is Latoya Busby of Little Switzerland. Photo: Facebook

Deputy CEO of Tortola Pier Park Limited (TPPL) Zoe J. Walcott and JTV reporter Cathy O. Richards got an exclusive tour of Little Switzerland, a luxury watch and jewelry store that has been a household name for over sixty years in the Virgin Islands.

Little Switzerland is currently offering summer discounts targeting local customers.

“To be in Tortola, we are very proud to be here. You know Tortolians, we have your back. We have our friends and family sale we have every summer…This is for Tortola designed and made specialised sale for BV Islanders… We do this every single year just as a thank you because you come in from January to December and you support us as a company so for us what we want to do Summer and Christmas we gonna go out,” Latoya Busby of Little Switzerland, Tortola said excitedly.

‘Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice

Walcott, while viewing some of the jewelry available, said she loves “the plethora of offerings”.

A duty-free and tax-free store, Little Switzerland, Tortola was awarded 2020 Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice.

Busby worked out a quick friends and family discount for the ladies on a Movado watch, which saw the price go down from $595 to an even $400 while encouraging residents to “take advantage of your advantages”.

‘Therapeutic & celebratory’

A trip to Little Switzerland can be therapeutic and celebratory at the same time.

“I encourage you to come in because it's a good atmosphere. You know you're at work, you're having a terrible day, Zoe? You come and try on a watch,” Busby said.

Whether customers purchase or take advantage of the retail therapy session, they walk away with a prepackaged gift.

To add to the ambiance of class, Busby said when it’s too noisy outside the doors are closed so the shopper gets a “personal shopping experience”.

The store for top brands

Little Switzerland is the home of some of the best-known watch and jewelry brands such as Citizen, Movado, Cartier, TAG Heuer, Breitling, Roberto Coin, John Hardy, and more.

“Many islands do not carry Breitling, David Yurman, Cartier…And this island was chosen,” Busby boasted.

As the ladies continued to make their way around the store, stopping to look at the various collections from the well-known and respected brands carried by Little Switzerland, Walcott and Richards learned that some of these pieces include those made Engrace Lab-Created Diamonds that are certified and appraised diamonds.

‘More Brilliant Campaign’

Busby was quick to clarify that the lab-grown diamonds are not fake but “a tiny piece of carbon placed in a very fancy incubator and it gets pressure and it grows into the diamond….it’s a quarter of the cost of one we had to blow up the mountain for. So we’re letting you know that it’s ethical and clean”.

As part of the store’s ‘More Brilliant Campaign’, buyers are given the opportunity to see what they are being offered.

Walcott and Richards were shown natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds, the difference they could not tell and both gave the lab-grown diamonds their stamps of approval that they were real diamonds.

The perk of buying lab-grown diamonds is the price, as the difference can be in the tens of thousands.

The cost is the only difference!

A pair of two-carat lab-grown diamond earrings set in 18 gold costs $5,000.00 as compared to a pair of one-carat natural diamonds set in 18-carat gold starting at $29,000.00.

Whether young or old, Little Switzerland caters to every type of jewelry shopper as purchasing one of their pieces can be described as generational buying.

“So when you have something like Breitling… So this is like $3,000 for Breitling. This is made for the strongman competition, so it can take a tank and roll on this, it can fall from the sky, anything can happen to this, nothing will go wrong. So a young professional can buy this and have a watch for the rest of his life and guess who can have that after him? His son,” Busby explained.

Financing plan

And if you cannot purchase that perfect piece for you upfront, a financing plan that fits your budget is available to you.

“Come and get some joy,” Busby encouraged residents as Walcott and Richards said their goodbyes.